Awareness of Promoted Adaptation Measures

The indicator assesses the proportion of target group members (such as farmers) who are aware of the promoted climate change adaptation measures, such as using drought-tolerant or fast maturing seed varieties; maximizing water capture and storage; or participating in an early warning system. Such data helps you design the focus of your promotion activities and evaluate their effectiveness and reach.

Determine the indicator's value by using the following methodology:

1) Prepare a list of the desired measures that you want to measure. Focus on the most important practices only – avoid being too ambitious. If you are assessing respondents’ awareness of several adaptation measures, decide on how many practices they need to be aware of in order to be considered ‘aware of the promoted adaptation measures’ (e.g. at least 2 out of 3 promoted practices).

2) Design the interview questions that you will use to assess whether the respondents are aware of the promoted adaptation measures or not. Ensure that the questions are specific enough without leading the respondent to a particular answer. If you are concerned that the respondents might say what they think the ‘correct answer’ is (instead of what they really know), consider asking indirectly: For example, if you promote mulching, instead of asking: “Are you aware of mulching as a method to retain moisture in the soil?”, you can ask: “What methods for retaining moisture in the soil do you know of?” Keep probing: “What other methods have you seen or heard about?” Strictly avoid asking very general questions, such as “How can your farming adapt to climate change?”

3) Conduct interviews with a representative sample of your target group members, asking them the questions you prepared.

4) To calculate the indicator’s value, divide the number of respondents aware of the promoted adaptation measures by the total number of interviewed respondents (excluding those who refused to answer one or more questions). Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage. 

Disaggregate the data by gender, age group, location, and other criteria relevant to the context and focus of your intervention.

1) In addition to reporting on the overall indicator value, also report on the percentage of respondents aware of the individual adaptation measures (e.g. how many are aware of intercropping, how many are aware of mulching, etc.). Such data can help you decide which practices you should focus on. It also helps you avoid wasting time on raising awareness about measures that people are already familiar with.

2) Consider also collecting and analysing data on from whom the people heard about the measure (only if it is likely that the respondents might remember the source). This might help you understand whether any changes in people’s awareness can be attributed to your intervention.